Tigers plagued by slow start in Great 8

Cannot overcome slow start against No. 1 seed Kent Denver

Collin Sanger goes for a contest buck in Sterling's loss to Kent Denver in the 3A State Tournament at Moby Arena at Colorado State University. (Jonathan Seib/Journal-Advocate)

FORT COLLINS -- It was a rough opening to the game and the Sterling Tigers could not recover in the Great Eight of the 3A State Tournament in Moby Arena on the Colorado State University Campus. Sterling got the draw against the No. 1 seeded Kent Denver and got off to a slow start, falling to the Sun Devils 55-36.

"Obviously we are disappointed. We just got off to a rotten start," said Sterling coach Mike Holloway. "If you take away the first quarter, which obviously you don't do, we played tough. But they are a good team and came out and shot really well and we just couldn't get a bucket."The score was 10-0 in Kent Denver's favor when Holloway took the first Sterling time out of the game with 3:22 left to play in the first quarter. The Tigers came back and responded right away, with a 3-point shot by Jay Kiel, to make it a seven-point game. But the Sun Devil's Michael Hanley answered right back with a 3, his first of three in the first half, and started an 11-point run that led the Devils to a 17-3 lead at the half and an 18-point lead before Sterling got back on the board

The Tigers finally got another point nearly eight and a half minutes after their first 3. Collin Sanger broke the scoring drought with a free throw and followed it up with a drive inside on the next possession to give Sterling six points with just about two and a half minutes to play in the first half.

James Skerjanec hit a 3 to give Sterling nine points headed into the break, but exited immediately after with an injury.

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Skerjanec's basket came after a 3 by the Sun Devils' Josh Repine. Kent Denver entered the half up 25-9 after being held to just eight by Sterling in the second quarter.

Despite being down by 16 at the half, the Sterling Tigers came back out and got down to business in the second half. Connor Carey hit a 3 to start the third quarter off.

Sterling found themselves down 32-14 after a bucket from Sanger. But with around five minutes left to go in the third the Tigers got little run going with eight unanswered points. Skerjanec had a lot to do with that, hitting two three-point baskets during that stretch. The run was capped off with a Sanger steal and dunk.

Ethan Rose scored the final five points in the third for the Tigers, giving them 19 in the third - 10 more than they scored in the entire first half. Kent Denver scored 15 in the third.

"I thought our kids showed great heart and effort. We had a couple chances to kind of get back in there, but that is pretty hard to come back when you are that far in the hole," Holloway said.

The Tigers entered the fourth quarter down 13 points to the Sun Devils, 40-27. They mostly traded buckets with the team, but were unable to cut into the lead as Kent Denver started to grind the clock. Both teams subbed down to their bench with 58 seconds left in the game.

Sterling was led by Sanger, who put up 11 points. Rose had eight, Kiel had five, Carey and Lucas Lingreen each had three. Lingreen also led the team in rebounds with seven.

Michael Hanely would score 13 for the Sun Devils with Brian Boatman, 11, and Repine, 10, rounding out the double digit scorers

Sterling, now 20-5 this season, will play in the consolation bracket Friday at 11:45 a.m. against Faith Christian.

"The fortunate thing is we get to play tomorrow and we'll come back and enjoy the atmosphere because the kids, they've earned it," Holloway said.